


Beware Friendly Strangers

by Cloudy



Series: The Devil is a Gentleman [2]
Category: Magic Kaito
Genre: Black Org Saguru, Certainly not Kaito, Is Armagnac playing with his food? Is he trying to make friends? Who knows?, Vignette, black org au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:01:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28626948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudy/pseuds/Cloudy
Summary: Armagnac and KID meet off-stage for the first time. Armagnac is... helpful? Although, Kaito certainly doesn't trust it.
Series: The Devil is a Gentleman [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097753
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Beware Friendly Strangers

The first time they'd spoken ‘off-stage,’ so to say, went like this: Armagnac had encountered KID while the thief was out on his own business, presumably investigating the site for a future heist.

Admittedly, Armagnac had been observing KID in action at heists ever since _Adam_ _’s Smile._ When his nights off coincided with one of the magician's shows, he liked to make himself a member of the audience. What had been a private treat had morphed to a sort of reserved fascination as he'd come to understand the extent to which KID was outwitting all other opponents on the playing board.

Even at the _Adam_ _’s Smile_ heist, Armagnac had been impressed, though he was loath to admit it. Even unrefined and with no clue of what he was doing or what he was after, the thief was brilliantly skilled.

This was a diamond in the rough if ever he'd found one. It was quite lucky indeed KID hadn't yet registered on the syndicate's radar in any significant way, Snake and his men aside. Armagnac hoped for it to stay that way—and wondered if he could ever make use of the thief's abilities.

Revealing himself to KID had been an irresistible impulse that he’d granted perhaps too easily at that first heist, and then the desire to do it again remained after. It eroded at him until he finally gave in when he'd spotted the boy out of uniform one evening and granted himself the indulgence of observing.

Here is what Armagnac knew about KID:

Unique from most other thieves, he preferred to return what he stole.

Also unique from most other thieves, though quite par for the course when it came to Kaitou in general (rare as they were), he liked to announce himself ahead of time via calling card.

He wore garish white, complete with flourishing cape and egregious top hat. He was not easily missed, which was quite obviously the point.

He sought a gemstone that would grant immortality through some mysterious means and was rumored to glow in the moonlight. To be completely honest, Armagnac thought the concept laughable, but he felt it was fair to assume KID's primary motive was to expose those threatening him and making attempts on his life at every turn, more so than to locate the stone in question. And it was true that if such an artifact even existed, it would do far more bad than good in the syndicate’s hands.

And finally, he was a successor to the previous. The previous being Kuroba Touichi, assumed dead, though Armagnac had his doubts. Regardless of that, he was certain that this more recent KID was a protégé rather than the original.

Meaning: Kaitou KID's identity was almost certainly none other than Kuroba Kaito, local high school student and aspiring magician.

And there Kuroba Kaito had been that night, in little more than unremarkable civilian clothes and a meager baseball cap to cast shadow over his face, walking the perimeter of a major convention center where a series of gemstones was set to be displayed in the coming week.

Incidentally, Armagnac had an assignment just three weeks ago that had necessitated him familiarizing himself with the floorplan, the security cameras and other measures, the potential exits. It seemed to him like an excellent talking point to work into conversation. Finally giving in to the impulse he’d been ignoring for months, he silently fell into step a few paces behind KID.

“If it’s of interest to you, I have access to the building plan."

The reaction was instantaneous. A strangled outburst as he leapt almost a meter in the air and immediately put distance between them. “Hhhwhen! When did you—?! Who the—?!”

“It’s been a while, KID,” Armagnac said as greeting.

“Y-you! You’re—!” KID sputtered and floundered, then seemed to rediscover his more collected exterior. So the thief recognized him from last time. “—You were at the Picasso exhibit.” Each word deliberately emphasized and carefully formed, to make up for his loss of composure. He was bristling and clearly irate, but he seemed to have gained some semblance of control. Armagnac found the transition laughable. Or maybe endearing was the right word.

He smiled to himself. “Oh, you remember me, do you? What an honor; it’s been over half a year now.” Eight months and a week—almost exactly. It was interesting to see the thief outside of the showman’s persona. His masks seemed a little less firmly in place—or maybe that could simply be credited to the element of surprise.

“If you haven’t noticed,” KID began, not responding to Armagnac’s observation. “I’m in the middle of something. What do you want?” He ground it out, on edge.

Armagnac couldn’t blame him. Only recently had Snake been given the green light to resume his task of eliminating Kaitou KID; mysterious gunmen breathing down his neck was a very new threat for the thief. It likely granted him the frame of reference to understand that a mysterious stranger clad in black was very bad news indeed. Fortunately, at least for now, Armagnac was a subversion of that particular fact, rather than confirmation.

Well—perhaps he should still be considered bad news, but he was hoping he could cultivate something a little less antagonistic with this particular piece on his board.

“What do I want? Well, I noticed you casing the convention center and thought you might find value in my information.”

“Even if that _was_ what I was doing—”

“It was.”

“ _Even if_ , it’s not like I would let some random stranger know, let alone ask for his help. Look, leave me alone, I’m just on a walk. Minding my own business. Maybe you should do the same.”

Armagnac smiled to himself. “Right, just on a walk.” As he reached into his pocket, he could feel KID stiffen. Smart of him.

But, he didn’t flee. It was pleasing for Armagnac to know that he’d reeled in the other boy’s attention so effectively. Luckily for KID, Armagnac didn’t withdraw a weapon or anything damning. Instead, he uncurled his hand to reveal a nondescript flash drive sitting in his palm. “It’s all yours. Do with it as you will.”

KID hesitated, then in a single delicate motion he plucked the flash drive out of his hand and began to study it. Armagnac could only imagine KID would be checking it as well as he could for any kind of tracking or surveilance software.

“Take care, Kaitou KID,” Armagnac said, taking this moment as his opportunity to leave. Best not to linger around and make the thief even more nervous.


End file.
